Drug-Induced Hair Loss

[MotherofJames]

Hi Everyone,

I was interested to know if anyone had any hair loss affects to these drugs below. I have thyriod issues and worried that possibly LevoThyroxin makes it worse for hair loss. I am considered a more holistic approach to thyriod medicine if possible. This is the names according to WebMD:




Acne medications containing vitamin A (retinoids)
Antibiotics and antifungal drugs
Antidepressants
Birth control pills
Anticlotting drugs
Cholesterol-lowering drugs
Drugs that suppress the immune system
Drugs that treat breast cancer
Epilepsy drugs (anticonvulsants)
High blood pressure medications (anti-hypertensives), such as beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, and diuretics
Hormone replacement therapy
Mood stabilizers
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
Parkinson’s disease drugs
Steroids
Thyroid medications
Weight loss drugs

[Aunt Rapunzel]

My mom experienced significant hair loss due to blood pressure meds and heart meds she was taking.

[Aredhel]

I did from birth control... I actually don't remember what brand it was though.

[MotherofJames]

I know thyriod problems cause hair loss... but then the thyriod medications to help that, also cause them. its a catch 22. LOL. I am trying to figure out what to do. They just put me on levothyroxine but I googled it and it said hair loss. So now I dont even want take it :confused:

[MotherofJames]

I did from birth control... I actually don't remember what brand it was though.

I am so scared of birth control pills nowadays :P eeeek. I havent been on those in years

[akurah]

I know thyriod problems cause hair loss... but then the thyriod medications to help that, also cause them. its a catch 22. LOL. I am trying to figure out what to do. They just put me on levothyroxine but I googled it and it said hair loss. So now I dont even want take it :confused:

Keep in mind, not everyone gets every side effect.

For example, when I took Lexapro, I developed a tic. I was yawning at least 1x a minute (it was timed) while awake and there was nothing I could do to stop it. That one is listed as rare
When I was on Lithium, I was so ungodly thirsty. I drank so much water. Then I got yelled at for drinking so much water I was diluting it too much to be effective? :confused: That one is listed as uncommon
I'm on Lamictal now. I did not develop the side effect that leads to Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (it's my understanding that can kill you). that one is also rare.
In fact, right now, for Lamictal, I have no side effects at all. :shrug:

Have you talked to your doctor about your concerns? My doctor, when prescribing me for bipolar, deliberately chose Lamictal because I told her I wasn't trying Lithium again, and I am not interested in gaining any more weight (I was 220 at the time). Lamictal is weight neutral, and in some cases, can make it easier to lose weight if you choose to.

As such? While there's no guarantee, there may be a thyroid drug who is less likely to cause hair loss. You absolutely positively need to talk to your doctor too!! You will not necessarily be able to figure it out on your own using google to find a specific drug that is used to treat your condition because the websites do not tell us side effect frequencies beyond "common", "uncommon," "rare", and "incidence not known" (and those are incredibly vague labels--for example, for all we know, their idea of common is 10 out of 100 people get the side effect in question). Your doctor will be able to see the percentages, and he could prescribe you something that has a lower (or possibly nearly no) chance instead of a higher chance. Or of what he does give you, the hair loss might be treatable by a second method, such as ketoconazole (Nizoral) shampoo or minoxidil (Rogaine). And if you do get the side effect, extra stuff like ketoconazole or minozidil doesn't resolve it, and it's upsetting you, unless you've already tried every other drug on the market, he can still switch you to something else.

I also want to add, the biggest reason side effects are so long and convoluted is because pharmaceutical companies are trying to protect themselves from lawsuit. I don't remember who told me this (or if I read it), and I can't successfully find anything but Google, but at some point someone told me that if a patient in a trial develops something (like a cold) it goes on the side effect list just to "be safe" (from a "don't sue us" standpoint more than anything else from what I understand). So the side effect frequency data your doctor has becomes even more important, because if only one person in a massive trial got that side effect but it still ends up on the list, it'll probably be noted somewhere (or he would likely otherwise be able to determine this)

Side effects can, in many cases, go away as well.

Also, consider this:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fighting-fear/201206/determining-the-real-side-effects-drugs

ETA: Holistic stuff can have side effects too, don't overlook that! However if you find a holistic approach that has studies that show it's effective (or just ends up working for you) and the side effects are tolerable and your doctor isn't scared for your health, just do that.

[nekosan]

Lithium may have shortened my terminal length by an inch or three. *shrug*

[gthlvrmx]

I would like to bring up the positive situation that can occur in holistic/alternative medicine treatments, that can sometimes feel like things are going completely wrong.

Sometimes during treatment, you begin getting something called a healing crisis. This just means you your body is releasing toxins into your bloodstream faster than it can process it, causing you to feel flu like symotoms. You may feel awful for a few hours, days, weeks, and in rare cases months or even years, but it usually ends and you end up feeling much better after the treatment is over and the healing is done. The reason I say it's positive even though it feels terrible and you feel like it's the same as taking medicine with side effects is because a healing crisis is a sign that the healing hs already begun and that the bad stuff is on it's way out. Once it's out of your system though, it's out so no worries.

Just a heads up. Not all things "natural" mean "gentle, fluffy, and care free", but that doesn't mean there isn't something meaningful and beneficial in it.

[Deborah]

I took Levothyroxine for at least twenty years and never noticed any change in my hair. Just don't worry about it. It most likely will not affect your hair at all.

[julee]

I've been taking Levothyroxine for 5 years now, and my hair is much healthier and slightly thicker from maintaining the correct level of thyroid hormone.

[embee]

I'm on levothyroxine and have been for many years. My hair is fairly thin-medium, but it always has been like that.

Do note that thyroid troubles can cause a lot more than hair loss, like weight gain, exhaustion, heart troubles. I surely didn't want to go *there*!

[Fia]

Adding my voice to the Levothyroxine users that have had no side-effects on hair thickness or hair loss (in fact no side-effects at all).

[lapushka]

Keep in mind, not everyone gets every side effect.

^^ This. If I were to take literally every listed side-effect on all my medication, I would die of fear. You need to be mindful of certain things. Suffering from a thyroid issue brings even more hair loss with it, than being on any medication for it will ever do to you.

Stay well. Don't focus and obsess too much over the medication inserts / leaflets.

[marvel-lover]

Surprisingly enough, my birth control pills have not caused hair loss. However, I did experience it with Abilify (used as a mood stabilizer). I also experienced it with the Zyvox and Clindamycin cocktail I was taking for many months this time last year, and again in October. Those are very powerful antibiotics, and they gave me all sorts of horrible side effects. Although, considering I was nearly dying from MRSA, who knows how much of what I felt was the medication and how much was the infection.

[lapushka]

I have been on anti-convulsants long term (since 2004), for severe neuropathic pain (aka nerve pain). I haven't seen any more hair loss. Also, I am on BC, I haven't seen any more hair loss.

It all depends.

If you don't try, you'll never know, and suffering from a thyroid condition is not something you can leave alone or treat alternatively if it is serious. It, of course, is totally up to you.

They are legally obligated to state every side-effect there possibly can be, so it's not something you can sue the company over (you knew). I usually don't pay it any mind, or not too much, because I know my doctor, and he doesn't prescribe me something frivolously. No doctor ever does.

I'd go by doctor's orders. :flower:

[Tosca]

Story time.

Antidepressant alone might have thinned out my hair a little, but I wasn't measuring my circumference at that time, so I don't really know for sure.

Antidepressant + hormonal BC had no noticeable effect on my hair

Antipsychotic 1 + antidepressant + hormonal BC resulted in significant thinning and very rare hyperprolactinemia (milk production not accociated with pregnancy)

Antipsychotic 2 + antidepressant + hormonal BC resulted in hair thickening back up

I then had a big shed almost certainly because of a very stressful time (18 months). Soon after the stress was resolved, I also stopped taking Antipsychotic 2 (with approval).

Antidepressant + hormonal BC my hair has thickened up somewhat, but is not back to my original thickness. However, I am content with my thickness as it is now, considering how essential the antidepressant and hormonal BC are to me living a normal life.

[MotherofJames]

Thank you to everyone who gave advice and chimed with their experiences. It is nice to read about the different experiences everyone has had with different medications. As for me right now ,I am not sure what Im going to do. Ill will definitely try what the doctor says but keep an open mind to not taking it in case it doesnt work out for me. Ill have to go by the two/three month rule and then make a decision. Its hard for me to take a pill everyday. I dont know why but it just is. :P I even have a hard time staying on top of my daily vitamins.

[akurah]

Thank you to everyone who gave advice and chimed with their experiences. It is nice to read about the different experiences everyone has had with different medications. As for me right now ,I am not sure what Im going to do. Ill will definitely try what the doctor says but keep an open mind to not taking it in case it doesnt work out for me. Ill have to go by the two/three month rule and then make a decision. Its hard for me to take a pill everyday. I dont know why but it just is. :P I even have a hard time staying on top of my daily vitamins.

I have a 7 day pill reminder with 4 compartments per day (it's rather large). Because they're compartments that slide out, i took out 2 dividers since I only need 2 (morning and evening). If you only take pills at the same time every day, you can instead use it as a month pill organizer (I have done that in the past when I took less pills)

I then have an alarm in my phone through the Reminders app (iPhone) set for the time I prefer to take my meds. The reminders app is superior to the calendar feature for me because the reminder display on my lock screen doesn't clear until I complete it or deliberately dismiss it. The calendar one eventually goes away on its own if you schedule your reminders as calendar appointments. Android probably has similar apps.

When I accidentally missed 3 days of BC and had to take Plan B, that is when I started this. (If memory serves i had worked over 60+ hour that week, potentially as many as 80 hours, hence forgetting) since implementing this, I have not missed pills since.

[enting]

I can't tell if my hair has thinned due to thyroid meds, or stress, or bc, or just normal getting-older stuff, or my hairpulling. It isn't quite as thick as when I was a child, but that is probably pretty standard. About 3-4 years ago my hair started feeling thinner, but every time I measure ponytail circumference it comes out *exactly* the same, so I don't know what's going on there.

About it being difficult to take pills, is it a memory thing? Or is it difficult psychologically?

I was averse to taking pills for the longest time, vitamins, thyroid meds, you name it. It just felt... weird to be introducing something into my body that wasn't food. What helped me a lot is having other people in my life who have more obvious reasons for needing to take pills. I could clearly see that they needed their pills and would encourage them to do so when they wanted to slack off. I then realized that even though to me, going hypothyroid wasn't a big deal, it did in fact affect my life and those around me, even if that difference was more gradual than with some of my friends' issues. That really helped me stay on track. If I was going to tell them they needed to take their meds, every single day, well then I needed to practice that as well, no matter how weird it felt.